Section 22

Little is known of the relationship of Crow shield designs to those employed by their Hidatsa kinsmen. That they were not unrelated is suggested by the following quotation from Henry Boiler, referring to the transfer of shield power from a veteran Hidatsa warrior to an inexperienced Crow one about the year i860 :
"The previous summer, when on a visit to the Crows, the Wolf painted a young Crow warrior, and said he gave him half his medicine. He was a chief and he gave him the same chance to become one. The young man took the name of the Black Cloud and painted half his shield black. He then went to war and stole two horses, when he sent word down that they were for the Wolf. His medicine was good, and he wanted his shield black all over." (Boiler, 1868, p. 324).
Enterprising traders, both in this country and in Canada, did not always recognize the religious significance of the protective designs on Plains Indian shields. In 1821 Nicholas Garry, Deputy Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, after visiting the North- west Territories of British North America, recommended among the new products that might be used in the Indian trade "Copper Shields or of Tin with Paintings of a frightful Animal, red Color, will please the Plains Indians." (Garry, 1900, p. 195). The Ameri- can Fur Company sought to introduce polished metal shields among the tribes of the Upper Missouri to replace shields of their own making. "The attempt was opposed by the medicine men, who would thus have been deprived of an important source of revenue, and the superstitious feelings of the Indians induced them to prefer their own which alone could undergo religious dedication and enjoy the favor of the Great Spirit." (Bradley, 1923, p. 258).
Skull Medicine Bundles: That Wildschut was the first field worker among the Crow Indians even to mention the skull medicine bundle appears remarkable in view of the fact that two red- painted skulls, part of a complex shrine, were among the most sacred tribal possessions of their Hidatsa kinsmen. Curtis (Vol. IV., 1909, p. 165) stated that these skulls were handed down in the Midipati Clan of that tribe. Pepper and Wilson (1908, pp. 275-328) described these two human skulls and indicated that their func- tions were to bring rain, to bring buffalo meat, to prevent star- vation, and to cure sickness.
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The Hidatsa Medicine Ceremony was essentially a ceremony of adoption in which the initiate "was given a sacred pipe which he kept as a symbol of his regeneration, from which he was sup- posed to derive spiritual strength in time of need/' (Curtis, Vol. IV, p. 184). Bowers (1950, Chapter XVI) found that the Mandan "Adoption Pipe Ceremony" was identical with that of the Hidatsa, as to ritual. Two pipe stems were carried in this ceremony, one to be retained by the owner and one to be passed to the initiate. The pipe bowls were unimportant. The Mandan also claimed that their pipe ceremony was obtained from the Arikara a long time ago. This Mandan ceremony was described briefly by Maximilian in 1834. (Maximilian, 1843, p. 370).
Although the Blackfoot, Gros Ventres and Plains Cree also possessed elaborate medicine pipe ceremonies and even more elaborate medicine pipe bundles, their pipes and rituals differed materially from the Crow-Hidatsa-Mandan ones. (Wissler, 191 2, pp. 136-168; Cooper, 1956, pp. 33-172; Mandelbaum, 1940, pp. 271-274).
Pipe-holder s Pipes : While among the Mandan in 1833, Maxi- milian learned that "all partisans carry on their backs a medicine pipe in a case, which other warriors dare not have." He described this war leader's pipe as "a plain, undecorated tube". After a war party set out, "at a certain distance from the village they halt upon an isolated hill, open their medicine bags, and, after the men have sat down in a circle, the partisan produces his medicine pipe, which all present smoke; the person who smokes last, then spreads his medicines on the ground, or hangs them up, and from them foretells the fate of the expedition." (Maximilian, 1843, pp. 387-388). Catlin attempted a painting of a Mandan war party halting for a smoke, but he shows the leader smoking a pipe with a Siouan calumet-shaped bowl, which may be erroneous, (cat. no. 386,441 U. S. National Museum). Probably Catlin never witnessed that ceremony. Maximilian further stated that a Mandan warrior was not "allowed to wear tufts of hair on his clothes, unless he carries a medicine pipe, and has been the leader of a war party." (Maximilian, 1843, p. 386).
Maximilian pictured and briefly described the tubular-bowled pipes used by members of war parties in the early 1830s. "The Indians on the Upper Missouri have another kind of tobacco pipe, the bowl of which is in the same line as the tube, and which they use only on their warlike expeditions. As the aperture of the pipe
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is more inclined downwards than usual, the fire can never be seen, so as to betray the smoker, who lies on the ground, and holds the pipe on one side." (Maximilian, 1843, p. 196, footnote and figure). It is especially noteworthy that both of the Crow pipe- holder's pipes collected by Wildschut and pictured in Figs. 46-50 of this monograph, are equipped with tubular stone bowls.
Love Medicines: All of the tribes of the Upper Missouri pos- sessed love medicines which were used to win the affection of a member of the opposite sex. These medicines were of three major types: (i), elk medicine, the reputed power of the bull elk over females of his species, transferred to human beings through dreams or visions; (2), small human effigies of carved wood or bark used in conjunction with strands of the hair of the loved one and /or particular herbs; (3), botanical medicines, some of them secret but others known to have been sweet-smelling roots, seeds or flowers carried or worn to attract the loved one.
In their preference for elk medicines Crow men resembled those of other Siouan tribes of the region. Available information indicates that these resemblances were closest to Assinboin and Teton Dakota. In Dakota mythology the Elkman was known as a seducer of women. (EhrUch, 1937, p. 310). Dakota men employed both a skin robe decorated with a painted elk figure and a flageolet in courting. (Wissler, 1905, pp. 261-268). Assiniboin love medicines also included an elkskin robe bearing a representation of an elk in blue paint and an "elk whistle". (Ewers, 1958, p. 40). However, Dakota and Assiniboin wooden love flutes differed from the Crow ones collected by Wildschut in having the front ends carved in the form of the head of a bird or of an elk. In 1862, Morgan was told of the Hidatsa recognition of the elk as a source of power in love making. (Morgan, 1959, p. 189). Both Mandan and Hidatsa men employed "elk whistles" in courting. These long, wooden flageolets were either plain (as were those of the Crow Indians), or they bore carved bird heads (Hke those of the Dakota and Assiniboin. (Densmore, 1923, p. 9).
Among the Cheyenne the white-tailed deer, rather than the elk, was looked upon as the source of love medicine. Cheyenne men made use of both deer tail ornaments and wooden flutes in their courting. (GrinneU, 1923, Vol. I. pp. 134-135, 137).
The use of anthropomorphic fetishes as love medicines appears to have been more common among the Algonkian than among the Siouan tribes of the Upper Missouri. The Plains Cree were
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reputed to have been most skilled in the preparation of these love medicines. Lowie regarded the modeling of "an image both of himself and of the young woman" and the wrapping of "the figures up together with some medicine" by an Assiniboin young man, to be a "method of procedure probably borrowed from the Cree." (Lowie, 1909, pp. 46-47). The Blackfoot purchased their love medicines from the Cree. Some of them were small wooden images, or a figure of a man and a woman drawn on birch bark. Others were herbal medicines. (Mc Clintock, 1910, pp. 190-191; Wissler, 1912, pp. 85-89).
Even though other Upper Missouri tribes looked to the Cree for these love medicine effigies, Mandelbaum was inclined to attribute Cree love medicines to Saulteaux influence. (Mandel- baum, 1940, p. 255). Looking eastward we note the similarity of the Cree love medicine effigy to those of certain Central Algonkian tribes. Densmore (1929, pp. 108 and Fig. 39) described and figured small, carved wooden figures used as love medicines by the Chip- pewa of Minnesota. While Skinner (1915, pp. 189-190) found that the Menomini used wooden images as love medicines. In the single case of a Crow Indian who used carved wooden figures for love medicines, cited by Wildschut above, we may have an example of the marginal occurrence of an essentially Woodland trait.
Botanical love medicines were widely employed by the tribes of the Woodlands and the Plains. Despite the Indians' general tendency to keep secret the ingredients of these medicines and methods employed in preparing them by the specialists who concocted and sold them, we know some of the roots, seeds and flowers employed as love medicines among some of the Missouri Valley tribes. The Ponca knew the bloodroot as "woman-seeking- medicine. Omaha men chewed the root of artemesia and rubbed it on their clothing to attract women. A Pawnee man carried the seeds of Cogswellia daucifoUa "so he might win any woman he might desire." (Gilmore, 1919, pp. 83, 104, 107). The Pawnee also compounded a love medicine from a combination of ingredients which included dried ginseng roots, wild columbine and Cogswellia daucifoUa seeds, and both the dried roots and flowers of the red lobeUa. {Ibid., p. 106).
Witchcraft Bundles: The Crow method of working evil magic against an individual by making an image of the person to be harmed had parallels among other Siouan and among Algonkian tribes of the Upper Missouri. In 1833, Maximilian wrote of the
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Mandan ". . .they believe that a person to whom they wish ill must die, if they make a figure of wood or clay, substituting for the heart, a needle, an awl, or a porcupine quill, and burying the image at the foot of one of their medicine poles." (Maximilian, 1843, p. 382). A century later Bowers was told of a Mandan woman who obtained power from a wolf to cause death to anyone she wished to get rid of by cutting an image of that person out of hide, placing a stone (given to her by the wolf) beside the image, and covering both with hot ashes. (Bowers, 1950, p. 175).
Among the tribes of the Upper Missouri the Plains Cree were most feared for their reputed powers of witchcraft. The Cree sorcerer resorted to sympathetic magic to cause an object or evil medicine to enter the body of his intended victim. "The shaman might mould a figure of a man in clay or cut out hide in the shape of a person. The intrusive object was inserted into that part of the body which is to be affected, or, in case of the hide figure, medicine was placed over that part." (Mandelbaum, 1940, pp. 255). Yet Mandelbaum found that the Plains Cree feared the sorcery of the Woodland tribes even more than that of their own evil shamen.
The use of magic power, without the aid of images, to bring death or disaster to an individual has been reported for the Cheyenne, Blackfoot, Gros Ventre, and Arapaho. (Grinnell, 1923, Vol. II. pp. 144-145; Cooper, 1956, pp. 327-329; Hilger, 1952, pp. 130-134) . It is my feeling that the practice of witchcraft among the tribes of the Northern Plains may have been much more prevalent in the early years of the historic period than is indicated in the publications of twentieth century field workers. It is temp- ting to regard the witchcraft practices among the Crow, Mandan and the several Algonkian tribes of the Plains as a survival of Woodland influence upon the religious beliefs and practices of these tribes.
Healing Medicine Bundles: Men and women who claimed to have obtained supernatural powers from particular animals in dreams or visions were engaged in the practice of doctoring the sick or wounded among all of the tribes of the Upper Missouri. The doctor who employed snake power in his procedures appears to have held a respected position among the Mandan as well as among the Crows. During his winter's stay among the Mandan, MaximiUan learned that, "Serpents, especially the rattlsnake, are in greater or less degree 'medicine' to these people, who kill them,
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and cut off the rattles, which they regard as an effectual remedy in many diseases. They chew one of the joints, and wet various parts of the body of the patient with the saliva.'* (Maximilian, 1843, p. 380). Hilger (1952, p. 128) was told of an Arapaho man who obtained from a Gila monster power to heal sick people through the use of "turtles, snakes, water-dogs and lizards," whom the Arapaho thought of as a group of related animals.
Curtis (1909, Vol. IV., p. 145 ff.) cited the case of an Hidatsa Indian who had buffalo power to cure wounds. The association of buffalo power with wound doctoring also occurred among the Omaha, who possessed a fraternity of buffalo visionaries who treated such cases. (Fletcher and LaFlesche, 1911, p. 487).
However, the Crow Indians do not appear to have possessed the formalized Bear Cult found among other Siouan and Algon- kian tribes of the region. Members of that cult employed bear power they had obtained in dreams, both in curing sickness and as a potent war medicine. (Ewers, 1955).
Hunting Medicine Bundles : In 1833 Maximilian learned of an Hidatsa medicine, composed of the neck bones of a buffalo, which was reputed to have the power of preventing the buffalo herds from removing to too great a distance from the village in which these bones were preserved. "At times they perform the following ceremony with these bones ; they take a potsherd with live coals, throw sweet-smelling grass upon it, and fumigate the bones with the smoke." Maximilian understood that the Crows had a similar medicine. (Maximilian, 1843, pp. 399-400).
Both the Hidatsa and the Mandan had elaborate buffalo calling ceremonies which have been described repeatedly since the time of Lewis and Clark's winter encampment near these tribes in 1804-1805. (Lewis and Clark, 1905, Vol. I., p. 245). Maximilian described both the Mandan and Hidatsa buffalo-calling ceremonies as he observed them or heard about them in 1 833-1834. (Maximi- lian, 1843, pp. 378, 418-422). The Red Stick Ceremony and White Buffalo Cow ritual of the Mandan, both winter ceremonies for calling the buffalo, have been described in detail by Bowers (1950, pp. 315-328).
There were also women's society ceremonies for calling the buffalo among the Blackfoot, Gros Ventre and Arapaho. (Maxi- milian, 1843, pp. 254-255; Cooper, 1956, pp. 242-251; Kroeber, 1902, pp. 210-224).
Buffalo calling among the Blackfoot was also considered one
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of the remarkable powers of the beaver medicine men. Buffalo hoofs and tails played prominent rolls in their ceremonies. (Wissler, 1912, pp. 204-209). Among the Plains Cree buffalo pounds were "built under the supervision of a shaman who had been given the power to do so by a spirit helper". This shaman also invoked his spirit helpers to bring success to the impounding operation and managed the operation of the pound. (Mandelbaum, 1940, pp. 189-191).
Probably because buffalo hunting was an important group activity among the tribes of the Upper Missouri buffalo calling tended to become the function of an organized ceremonial group or of a shaman who was recognized as specially gifted in control- ling the actions of the buffalo. The widespread use of individually owned buffalo hunting medicines was of lesser significance among the tribes of this region.
ADOPTION OF WHITE MEN S MAGIC AS CROW MEDICINES
Probably because they had fewer contacts with white men than did other tribes of the Upper Missouri, the Crow Indians of the historic period appeared to be more impressed by the white men's "magic" and more readily adopted strange materials from the white man's culture as supernatural helpers.
When among the Crows in 1805, Frangois Larocque observed that "one of them had the tail of a Spanish cow in his Medicine Bag, and when he intended to dress fine or went to war he put it on his head." Even more curious was the fact that one of their chiefs, at that early date, had part of a magic lantern as his medicine. "The figures that are painted on the glass he thinks are spirits & that they assist him. He never leaves them behind when he goes to war." (Larocque, 1910, pp. 66, 68). Could it have been that even before 1805 some ingenious trader, who knew the sus- ceptability of these Indians to the charms of inexplicable objects, had supplied the Crow chief with this oddity ?
When Capt. Bonneville's trading party was en route west- ward in 1832, some Crow warriors were intrigued by the sight of a domestic calf which was with the traders' wagon train. After a lengthy consultation these Indians decided among themselves that this calf must have been the "great medicine" of the white party. However, when the whites offered to exchange the calf for one of the Crow warrior's horses "their estimate of the great
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medicine sank in an instant, and they declined the bargain." (Irving, 1868, pp. 61-62).
Eight years later Father De Smet met the Crow Indians in council. He had some Inciter matches and used them to light the pipe. The Crows had never seen matches before. So impressed were they by them that they regarded the priest as "the greatest medicine man that had ever visited their tribe." In response to the Indians* request, De Smet left some of his matches with them. When he returned to the Crows in the summer of 1842 he found that one of their chiefs had a special attachment for him, claiming that he owed his success in war to Father De Smet. The perplexed priest was soon given an explanation. "Without delay he took from his neck his Wahkon, or medicine bag, wrapped in a bit of kid. He unrolled it, and displayed to my wondering view the rem- nant of the matches I had given him in 1840. T use them,' said he, *every time I go to battle. If the mysterious fire appears at the first rubbing, I dart upon my enemies, sure of obtaining victory.'" (Chittenden and Richardson, 1905, Vol. 3, p. 1036).